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M. E. RHOADS.

WOMAN'S WORKINGBARMENT. APPLICATION FILED AUG-5, I918.

Patented J1me 3, 1919.

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Patented June 3, 1919.

M- E. RHOADS.

v WOMAN'S WORKING GARMENT.

, 4w; @"QPQ Q" APPLICATION HLED AUG.5, 1918.

WITNESSES UNITED sratrns PATENT orrion.

MAY E. arrears. or new s me 1a. Y.

q specified-theinappropriateness of ;conven- WQMAN WQE NG-GABMELTT- Spfication of Letter at nt- Patented June 3, 191-9.

Application filed August 5, 1918. Serial No. 248,235.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MAY RHoADs, a citizen of the United States, residingin the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain newand useful Improvements in Womens Working-Garments, of whichthe-following is a specification.

My invention relates to womens garments and more particularly togarments which shall be especially suitable 'for women engaged in manualindustrial work as distinguished from clerical work or domestic service;the improved garments of my invention may, however, beused to advantagein these last named vocations as well as in many other situations notstrictly industrial.

It is the object of my invention'to provide a simply'designed, simplyand inexpensively made, and durable garment for women working on thefarm or in the machine-shop, running elevators, driving motor cars,serving as conductors or motormen, or, in short, laboring in anyone ofthe manifold capacities opened-to women by modern social and industrialconditions. The maj ority ofthese occupations have, until quiterecently, been almost exclusively confined to men. 4 r Inpractisingcallings of the general class tional womans attire isobviousand has long been recognlzed. Flowing skirts, loose sleeves and thelike, not only directly inter- Efe re with the'workers speed andeiiiciency,

butare also likely-to be caught by project'- ing parts of-Lfixturesormachinery, thus becoming a source of actual danger to the wearer. Onthe other hand women-themselves have objected, from considerations ofnatural modesty, to donning male clothing, and practical sociologistshave seen the danger of permitting them-to do so.

A suitable garment for women engaged in'occupations of the class abovereferred to should have the following characteristics:

First: It should provide the utmost free dom of movement while atthesame time, clinging'suificiently close to the person, so thatpartsof'the garment may not be caught by fiirtures or doors or bymachinery, driving belting and the like.

Secondf It should be modest and womanly in design and should-render itswearer readily distinguishable from a man even at a considerabledistance. I Third: It should cover the body quite completely aspdssible.

Fourth: It should be capable of being quickly and easily put on orofiand its fastenings should therefore be few and simple. Fifth: Since theworkers employment is usually more or less public as Well as on a timebasis, the garment should be capable of being quickly opened and closedfor the performance of the necessary natural health functions withaslittle exposure of the person as possible and with a minimumconsumption of time. Sixth: It should be so designed that, upon thestreet, while traveling to and from her place of employment, it willdifferentiate its wearer as little as possible from other women.

Seventh: It should comprise a minimum number of pieces and be made of aminimum amount of material and should be sodssigned as to be readily,quickly and'easily laundried. V r r The foregoing requirements, andothers not specifically named, are all satisfied by the improved garmentof my invention.

Briefiy and broadly described, the garment of my invention comrisesthree separate parts, viz'., a pair o bloomers and a waist to beworntogether as one when actually Working; and an outer smock orcombination skirt and demisblouse or shoulder so as to keep its wearerasclean straps to be worn over and attached to the work clothes(bloomersand waist) for street and similar use. 7 T

The invention resides in certain special features to which attentionwill be particu larly drawn herein-after. I

My invention will be better understood by referring to the accompanyingdrawings in which Figure 1 represents the garment as it appears whenworn for street or like use, as, e. 9., when the wearer is going to andfrom her work; Fig. 2 is a view showing the combined waist and bloomersas they appear when the wearer is engaged in actual Work; Fig. 3: is aplan view of the outer smock when removed from the remainder of thegarment and flattened out, Qrtions of the smock being folded back toetter show details; Fig. 4 is a plan view, similar to Fig. .3, showingthe waist; Fig. 5 is a side view showing the bloomers, in accuratedetail; Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5., but showingthe bloomersopen .or let down behind for tiii ssat'grigtaithfunctions; Fig. 7 is aview, takenfrom the inside, of the front abdominal portion of thebloomers; Fig. 8 is a view, veryihuch" enlarged, of the top of Fig. 7with thefasten ing tapes folded inwardly; Fig. '9 i's'a s'ecf'tiongreatly enlarged along the line 99"of showing the tapes usedin'drawing in the legs of the bloomers uponthelegsof eferring to thedrawings the work clothes proper comprise a waist,, 1, and a pair of,bloomers, 2. The waist is prefer I ably, fairly high in the neck, andopens down i 20 the front along one side; snap fasteners, 3, are used tokeep the waistclosed but buttons or other usual fastening means may besub stituted if preferred. 0 i The sleeves should, preferably, be fulllength and embrace the wrists closely. Buttons, 4, may be used tomaintain-the desired closeness of fit. 1 f 1- A row of buttons, 5, isprovided, on the front of the waist; these buttons begin at the shoulderand extend from one-third to one half the entire distance to thewaist-line or approximately to points on a linewith the arm-pits and aredisposed symmetrically; on each side of the center; t 5 V 2 Thebloomers,2,}ar'e made to .fit snugly at the, waist line andbelow the knee but areotherwise made rather loose and roomy. 7 They are split or-divided' oneach side at, .6,

' from-the waist-line down to a-point about on a line with the crotch.Thesedivided portions are held in closedposition by snap astene'rs,'7,and byohooks, 8, and eyes, 9', at-

' tached to the ends of the waist band, 10.

The bloomer-legs are also split, fromthe bottom up, on the outside ofeach to a point above the knee, the-divided portions being arranged tobe held together by buttons, 11. The lower part of the leg, from a pointjust below the knee to the bottom, is fitted'closely to the person, aspreviously stated.-

The bottom portion of each bloomer le is 7 also provided with-an elastictape, 12, which 7 runs around the leg, the ends being respectively sewedfast on'the two sidesjof the dividing line and other points of the tapebeing fastened ata point, 13, diametrally opposite thedividing line andalso at points, 14: on the front and back. of the leg.

. Flastic tapes, 15, are respectively sewed fast to the inner side andnear the ends of the front section of waist band, 10. The

free ends of these tapes are respectively .provided with a hook, 16, andeye, 17, by

whichxthey may be fastenedtogether be- -hind' the back (Fig. 6),. Thisenables-the ,ing thereof. 1

easily and quickly laundried. i

: feat 0 be opened away fromthe front section and let down for theperformance of necessary natu- Talhalth functions quite independently,

of the front section'which will remain in place thus completely avoidingany necessary exposure of the person.

The'wa'ist' band of the bloomers should --lie outside ofand cover thewaist band of the waist.

Pockets, 18, preferablydofthe ifpatch? type,,-are provided on each sideof the bloomers and readily accessible through the split,6. -.r

The-smock, 19, comprises two substan-;

tially identical, .and preferably integral,

front and back sections, 20,21, arranged to buttontogether along thelateral edges,

fit the neck, and are provided with shoulder straps adapted to befastened together by r snap fasteners, 28. These .top portions are muchnarrower than the, Width of the torso and are, indeed, only wide-BIIOUgh tQ'jUSt extend beyon'dthe buttons, 5, on the waist,

1. -;Button. holes,;29, are provided on the lateral edges of the'top'portions and are adapted to be engaged-withthefbuttons, 5,

thus fastening the upper portion of the smock in place andpreventing-any twist- From this it will be seen that the lateralportions ofthe waist, 1, of thework'clothes comblne withrthe centralupper" portions,

25, 26, of'the smock, l9,'to'constitute-the Waist for the skirt of thesmock.

, The smock, being made, up of two flat sections, front and back, ofsimple outlinev and readily separable from one another, may be With thesmock in place over the waist and bloomers, as shown inFig. 1,. it isobvious that thejwearer presents a neat and refined appearance and willattract no undue attention upon the street by reason of anypeculiarities of dress, Reaching her place of work shecan, in an,instant,throw ofi the smock and be ready for work while the smock may berolled up in small compass and laid to one side. When she has finishedher days work she can, just as readily. and quickly, again beready forthe street. And

it is obvious that no spacious and elaborate dressing rooms are neededfor these changes; indeed no dressing rooms at all are needed for thispurpose as it is clear that no trace of immodesty is attached to themaking of these changes in the open. Should the wearernot desire toremove the smock or outer garment but prefer to be outwardlyconventionally attired, the advantages secured through the eliminationof petticoats and the substitution of bloomers therefor are apparent, aspreviously pointed out. When thus attired, the necessary natural healthfunctions may be readily and easily performed by disengaging the buttons24 at one side of the outer garment and wholly or partially moving theportion 21 to one side permitting ready access to the back portion ofthe bloomers.

Changes and variations of detail may obviously be made in the garment asdescribed and shown without departing from the spirit of the inventionas defined in the following claims.

I claim 1. In an improved garment for women, the combination of an innergarment and an outer garment, the latter having a skirt portion andportions extending from the top of the skirt in front and back and overthe shoulders, said top portions being narrower than the inner garmentand said front top 1 Copies of this patent may be obtained for front andback sections the lower portions of which are adapted to be joinedtogether at their lateral edges so as to constitute a skirt while theupper portions are narrower than the body of the wearer and adapted tobe detachably connected together at at least one shoulder and supportedfrom the shoulders of the wearer.

3. In an improved garment for women, the combination of an outer garmenthaving a skirt portion comprising front and back members detachablyconnected at their side edges, and of an inner garment having a dropseat.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name this 3rd day of August, 1918.

MAY E. RI-IOADS.

five cents each, by addressing the"0ommissioner of Patents, Washington,D. G.

